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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. (Amen.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
Since about the time that computers reportedly were able to execute more than one process at a time, there has been talk about people’s also being able to “multi-task”. However, while computers seemingly can handle large numbers of different programs simultaneously, people apparently cannot truly “multi-task”. Instead, people are said rapidly to shift their attention between the multiple tasks, whether those tasks are talking or texting while driving or something less dangerous to ourselves and to others. There is “multi-tasking” of a sort in today’s Gospel Reading, as the Divinely‑inspired St. Luke reports that the woman named Martha, who welcomed Jesus into her house, was “distracted with much serving”; perhaps more literally, the Greek text says that she was “drawn about in different directions” (Plummer, ad loc Luke 10:40, p.291). As we heard, the Lord Jesus Himself said that Martha was “anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” Martha’s sister Mary, who had been seated at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His word, Jesus said, chose presumably that good portion, which, Jesus said, “will not be taken away from her”. Considering primarily today’s Gospel Reading, this morning we direct our thoughts to the theme, “The one thing necessary”.
Today’s Gospel Reading immediately follows last Sunday’s Gospel Reading, which ended with Jesus’s telling an expert in the Jewish law to show mercy to his neighbors, as the Samaritan in Jesus’s illustration did for the man who fell among robbers (Luke 10:25-37). And, like last Sunday’s Gospel Reading, today’s Gospel Reading is unique to St. Luke’s Gospel account. There are lots of other things that might be said—and often are said—in connection with today’s Gospel Reading—things said by reading into its five verses, filling in its blanks, adding missing details—details such as where the sisters lived, whether they already knew Jesus, whether Martha was a widow, how many people she had to serve, and the like. Today’s pairing of this Gospel Reading about Martha and Mary’s receiving the Lord and possibly others with the Old Testament Reading about Abraham and Sarah’s receiving the Lord and likely two angels (Genesis 18:1-14; confer 19:1-3 and Hebrews 13:2) could lead us to focus on our hospitality to the Lord and His messengers (compare Nocent, 4:326), when, in fact, today’s pairing of the two Readings arguably gives us in Sarah and Martha two examples of women who needed to hear the Lord point them to His all‑powerful Word (confer Wohlrabe, CPR 25:3, p.29). That all‑powerful Word can be said to be “The one thing necessary”.
In their 20‑13 book titled The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth about Extraordinary Results, authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan suggest that, rather than trying to juggle multiple priorities, people should focus on one single, most‑important task or goal at a time, which one thing, when accomplished, makes everything else easier or un‑necessary. The authors reportedly claim that their concept works for organizations such as churches and for individuals trying to deepen their faith. In today’s Gospel Reading, even Mary was able to choose the good portion, “The one thing necessary”, and, sitting at the Lord’s feet, listen to His Word, only because the Lord Jesus first had come into her house. Likewise with Sarah in today’s Old Testament Reading, even though she doubted the Word, she could listen to the Lord at the tent door only because He first had appeared by the oaks of Mamre. The same is true for all of us who in our trespasses and sins are spiritually dead and deserve physical death. As we believe, teach, and confess in the Small Catechism’s explanation of the Third Article of the Creed, by our own reason or strength, we cannot believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies and keeps us in the true faith. So, when we repent as the Spirit enables us, then God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
The English-Irish boy-band One Direction’s 20‑12 pop‑song “One Thing” has to do with the narrator’s infatuation with a significant other, but what, or Whom, we should love is “The one thing necessary” in today’s Gospel Reading, which at a minimum seems to be Jesus’s Word. The E‑S‑V translates as “teaching” the Greek word for “Word”, which word, as you may know, also can refer to the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who existed from eternity but in time took on human flesh (for example, John 1:1-18). That Son of God before He took on human flesh seems to have been Who visited Abraham and Sarah in today’s Old Testament Reading, essentially saying that nothing was too hard for the Lord. Likewise, the angel Gabriel, when announcing that Word’s birth to the Virgin Mary, essentially said that nothing would be impossible with God, or, more‑literally, that every word from God will not be without power (Luke 1:37). Sarah’s miraculous birth of Isaac eventually led to the Virgin Mary’s more‑miraculous birth of Jesus. Out of God’s love and mercy, Jesus lived for us the perfect life that we fail to live, and Jesus died for our failures to live that perfect life. On the cross, Jesus died for the sins of the world, including your sins and my sins, and then Jesus rose from the dead. As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading, Jesus has reconciled us to God in His body of flesh by his death (Colossians 1:21-29). Jesus’s Word gives us Him and all that comes with Him, especially our forgiveness of sins and so also our salvation to eternal life in bodies that are, as necessary, resurrected and glorified.
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus said that Martha’s sister Mary had chosen the good portion, and, in today’s Introit, we sang that the Lord is our portion (Psalm 119:57-60; antiphon: v.105). The words for “portion” have to do with a part or share of such things as food, often divided and assigned by God, including an inheritance of land or of the Lord Himself. God’s Word with water in Holy Baptism makes us those who inherit His Kingdom, and His Word with bread and wine in the Holy Supper serve us as real food and drink the Body of Christ given for us and the Blood of Christ shed for us and so are our share of His sacrifice for us and our share all of the blessings that His sacrifice brings. As Martha and Mary in today’s Gospel Reading presumably had table fellowship with the Lord, so here at His Altar and Rail do we have table fellowship with Him and so also His peace and joy.
Elsewhere Jesus is recorded as telling His disciples that they did not choose Him but that He chose them and appointed them so that they should go and bear fruit and that their fruit would abide (John 15:16). Jesus’s Word, especially His Word in its Sacramental forms, shows us that He chose us, and His Word and Sacraments transform us so that we can do the good works of His Commandments according to our various vocations, as St. Paul in today’s Epistle Reading did according to his vocation, with our knowing that Christ is also working in us. Chosen and enabled by God, we then choose to hear His Word and receive all that comes with the Word. And, apparently unlike Martha with her sister Mary in today’s Gospel Reading, we do not try to take away anyone else’s opportunity to hear His Word and receive all that comes with that Word. As we prayed in the Collect of the Day, the Father grants us the Spirit to hear His Word and know “The one thing necessary”, so that, by His Word and Spirit, we may live according to His will. And, when we fail to live according to His will, as we will fail, with daily sorrow over our sin and trust in God to forgive our sin, we live in His forgiveness of sins.
Studies suggest that some people are what are called “super‑taskers”, able to “multi-task” better than the rest of people, whose sense of their own being good at “multi-tasking” is frequently wrong. We should not be drawn about in different directions, or anxious and troubled about many things, as Martha was in today’s Gospel Reading. Thanks be to God that, as with Martha’s sister Mary, so with us, God freely gives us and enables us to receive “The one thing necessary”, our Lord Jesus Christ’s Word and all that comes with that Word, including Him and His forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And, as also with Mary, so also with us, that good portion will not be taken away.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +